@Mary625
Oh yes!
We had the Pears Encyclopedia which had all manner of useful things like the rules of darts, how to blow good soap bubbles, and how to get stains out of a bonnet.
We also had the "Children's Encyclopedia"edited by Arthur Mee, which was a trove of very British views of the world, and had an entire section on why we would never set foot on the moon.
Also Enid Blyton and her rather cringeworthy stories of Noddy